WORLD HEADLINES 5/18/15, Middle East Edition: 200 Latest Breaking News and Top Stories

Iraqi military forces flee and hundreds reported dead as militants overrun city to west of Baghdad Isis fighters have driven Iraqi government forces from the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. The fall of the city, which lies...

Iranian-backed Shia militias are on the rise in Iraq, but these forces are being brought under Iraqi state control, argue two Iranian experts Iraq and its security occupy a central part in the debate about a possible nuclear agreement be...

The canonisation of a third Palestinian -- a Salesian monk -- is still under review by the Church.The other two new saints are Jeanne-Emilie de Villeneuve (1811-1854) and Maria Cristina dell'Immacolata (1856-1906).De Villeneuve foun...

Islamic State militants said they had taken full control of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday in the biggest defeat for the Baghdad government since last summer. In a statement, the group said it had seized tanks and killed "doz...

The UN’s modest aims on Syria: keep channels open while waiting for the regional conflict to be resolved It may have escaped notice but peace talks about Syria are once again under way. The United Nations, which is organising and directi...

But in the southern city of Daleh, people said the rebels exploited the truce."The Huthi militia exploited the ceasefire to bomb citizens... We want coalition forces to resume attacks on these militia," said Ali al-Assmar. &quo...

The effective loss of the capital of Iraq's largest province was Baghdad's worst military setback since it started clawing back land from the jihadists late last year.Days after a rare message from IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghda...

UNESCO has urged both sides to spare Palmyra, which it describes as one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.Meanwhile, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said a rare US raid Friday on one of Syria's largest o...

Singapore on Monday condemned Iranian forces for firing warning shots in the Gulf at a commercial ship registered in the Asian city-state, calling it a "serious violation of international law".The Maritime and Port Authority (M...

Leader of the Tunisian Renaissance movement, Sheikh Rashid Al-Ghannushi, called on the Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz to lead a reconciliatory project in the region, in particular between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military in Egypt...

The United States says the situation in the Iraqi provincial capital of Ramadi remains “fluid and contested,” even as the Islamic State group claims to have captured the city of the country’s largest province, Anbar. Uncertainty over the...

Egypt has imposed new restrictions aimed at preventing women from traveling to Turkey, Egyptian police said Sunday. The move comes months after similar measures were put in place for men to discourage them from joining militant groups in...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday Jerusalem will always be the capital of the Jewish the people, and only Israeli rule can ensure religious freedom in a city considered holy ground by Jews, Muslims and Christians. “We...

BAGHDAD — The capital of Anbar province fell to Islamic State militants Sunday as hundreds of police personnel, soldiers and tribal fighters abandoned the city, prompting the Iraqi premier to order Iranian-aligned Shiite militias to join...

King Abdullah of Jordan accepted the resignation of the interior minister and the government dismissed the chief of police over reported abuses in prisons and the mishandling of a crackdown in the south.

A spokesman for the governor of Iraq's Anbar province said Monday that about 500 people - both civilians and Iraqi soldiers - are estimated to have been killed over the past few days as the city of Ramadi fell to the Islamic State group.

Talks in Saudi Arabia lack presence of Houthi rebels who oppose the summit’s main goal of reinstating President Hadi Saudi-led coalition air strikes targeting Shia rebels have resumed in the southern port city of Aden after the end of a ...

Israeli demonstrators and police clashed with rock-throwing Palestinians Sunday in occupied East Jerusalem, as thousands of Jewish nationalists marched through the city to mark the 48th anniversary of its capture. Police estimated that s...

A Saudi Arabian-led coalition resumed air strikes against Yemen’s Houthi militia in Aden late on Sunday, hours after the expiry of a truce meant to facilitate badly needed humanitarian aid, a Reuters eyewitness said.

By Ghada Ageel Sixty-seven years ago, Palestinians woke up to a tragedy that ravaged their hearts and distorted Palestinian life forever. Over 800,000 people, approximately half of the population of then-mandatory Palestine, were evicted...

Hezbollah’s seizure in a single day of Tallet Moussa, at 2,600 meters the highest point in Qalamoun, underlines the speed at which the party has made its gains since the offensive against Syrian rebel groups got off to a low-key start a ...

Israeli soldiers opened fire, on Saturday morning, on Palestinian farmers in their own lands, east of the al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, while navy ships opened fire on fishing boats in southern Gaza.

On the day when Palestine commemorates the 67th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel on May 15, 1948, when thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their homes in the territories which became part of Israel, Benjamin ...

Tzipi Hotovely says her hawkish views will not get in the way of her work as Israel's most senior diplomat; she is sure relations with the US are 'excellent' and opposes the concession of any land to the Palestinians.

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad- A security source in Anbar province announced on Saturday, that “Hezbollah Brigades” regained control of the army headquarters in Fallujah after the army’s withdrawal from it. The source said in...

BERLIN: A train smashed into a truck on Saturday on a road crossing in western Germany, killing two people and injuring at least 20 others, police said, adding that three of the injured were in severe condition. Police spokesman Jochen L...

ABUJA: A girl about 12 years old carried out a suicide attack at a bus station in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday, killing seven and injuring 31, witnesses said, shortly after officials revealed that Boko Haram had recaptured a strategi...

Many of the 77 accused lodged in the high-security central jail in Ahmedabad have put on weight, grown full beards and have larger eyebrows with the result that witnesses are finding it difficult to identify them.

BUJUMBURA: Burundi took 17 people suspected of involvement in a failed coup against President Pierre Nkurunzinza to the high court on Saturday, relatives of some of the accused said. Speaking on condition of anonymity due to fears of rep...

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad- Syrian state television announced on Saturday the death of “oil minister” in the organization ISIS, as well as 40 elements of his group in a process in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour in Syria. &...

KIEV: A Russian rocket carrying a Mexican satellite malfunctioned on Saturday shortly after its launch — the latest mishap to hit Russia’s troubled space industry, whose Soviet-era glory has been tarnished by a series of launch failures....

NICOSIA: A solution to the Cyprus problem is possible within months, the Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator in UN-brokered talks that resumed this week on reunifying the island said on Saturday. “It’s always very dangerous to talk about ti...

Damascus, SANA – Under the patronage of President Bashar al-Assad, activities of the 19th general conference of the Union of Arab Teachers (UAT) kicked off on Sunday in Damascus. Delegations from 12 Arab countries are taking part in the ...

Mr. Parviz Khazai, representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Nordic countries, spoke about the Arabic and regional coalition against Iranian regime’s regional meddling with the Iranian Resistance television o...

The United States expressed "deep concern" May 17 after an Egyptian court sentenced deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and more than 100 others to death for their role in a mass jailbreak during the 2011 uprising

Provinces, SANA- Units of the army and the armed forces on Sunday launched wide-scale military operations against the Takfiri terrorist organizations across the country, destroying their dens and vehicles and killing scores of their memb...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has termed an Egyptian court’s death penalty on ousted elected President Mohamed Morsi as a capital punishment against democracy. Speaking in Istanbul at an international youth ...

Since Hassan Rouhani became the president of the clerical regime, import of goods smuggled into the country, compared to official imports, has increased dramatically. This increase is a telling indicator that proves the fact that the reg...

Galatasaray narrowly beat Gençlerbirliği in the Turkish Spor Toto Super League match-up on May 16, as Dutch star midfielder Wesley Sneijder scored a vital goal on the road to the domestic title, with two games to spare

U.S. special operations forces have carried out a raid inside Syria, killing a man identified as a senior ISIL leader who helped direct the group's oil, gas and financial operations, the Pentagon and White House said on May 16.

“He has no chance left for a shift to the presidential system,” said Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), while gesturing with his right hand as if he was sweeping away dust in the air

Egyptian authorities hanged six men convicted of killing soldiers May 17, police said, ignoring appeals to spare them amid allegations two of them had been in custody at the time of their alleged crimes

Thousands of people in three southern cities went on strike Sunday in solidarity with Israel Chemicals workers who are facing layoffs, and to protest the bleak state of employment in the Negev region as a whole. In Dimona, Arad and Yeruh...

Occupied Golan, SANA – In a new provocative measure, Israeli authorities prevented on Sunday morning families of Golanese prisoners in Gilboa jail from visiting their sons. The families were enraged by the move and expressed resentment o...

Tehran, May 14, IRNA - It’s fascinating to watch the vast, well-rewarded western army of Saudi lobbyists/stenographers singing the praises of a “traditional and conservative institution”, a.k.a. the House of Saud, now embarking on a new,...

Damascus, SANA- Minister of State for Environment Affairs Nazira Sarkis discussed on Sunday with the representatives of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) future cooperation betwee...

Several residential neighborhood in Yemen's central city of Taiz came under random shelling by Shia Houthi militants on Sunday, local residents have said. Plumes of smoke were seen billowing from a number buildings after catching fire fr...

Israel marked the 48th anniversary of the "reunification" of Jerusalem on May 17 with thousands expected to join a controversial march through the city's Arab eastern sector which it captured in the Six-Day War.

Egypt’s prison authorities carried out six death sentences early Sunday in the case known as "Arab Sharkas," where the convicted were tried over connections with the Sinai-based Islamist militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. A military co...

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has urged the Communications Ministry to hamper all media communications of the government’s ally-turned-foe Fethullah Gülen by withdrawing state means used to facilitate the broadcasts

Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in North Sinai's al-Arish city leaving three prosecutors and a driver dead on Saturday, Egypt's state television reported. The attack also left a prosecutor injured. The vehicle was on its way to cou...

Ahead of Pope Francis' canonization of two Ottoman-era Palestinian nuns in St. Peter’s Square, President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday praised Palestinian Christians for their steadfastness and effective contribution to building the P...

A group that had been trying to organize a protest against Syrian refugees in Turkey’s southeastern province of Şanlıurfa violently attacked three Syrians in an alley, before being dispersed by the police.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had warned foreign officials that Athens would not be able to pay the 750 million euros ($845 million) due this month to the International Monetary Fund, Greek newspapers said May 17

A powerful bomb explosion has hit an area near the international airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, with an unconfirmed number of casualties, reports say.said on Sunday that the blast took place in the vicinity of the Hawashinasi area...

Damascus, SANA – UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Chaloka Beyani said he intends to increase cooperation with the Syrian government in the efforts aimed at providing relief and humanitarian ...

Talks between the United States and Turkey on efforts to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been “productive,” the White House’s special envoy for the campaign against the ISIL said on May 16

Ben Blushi, an Albanian lawmaker of the ruling Socialist Party, has slammed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call for the country to target followers of Fethullah Gülen, which the Turkish president made during his recent visit to the Balkan country.